‘Free speech’ doesn’t mean you can say anything. There are consequences. If I’m a private employer, I can fire you, even for behavior in your private life. Your right to free speech is only to not get arrested by the government.”

A member of Dowagiac Union High School’s Class of 2000, Groth lived in Paw Paw for nine years, but moved back to Silver Creek Township in 2016. In November 2018 school board balloting, Groth won a four-year term which will see him serving his alma mater through Dec. 31, 2022.

“If you mess up, don’t say, ‘It’s just a mistake, it happens, I’m not going to do anything differently,’” said Park, based in Kansas City, Mo., as primary examiner in the battery and fuel cell category for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. “Always be thoughtful and deliberate, creative and focus on the next right thing.”

Project lead Nicole Maroney, from New Buffalo, volunteered with the Marshall County, Ind., Special Olympics during high school, when she played ice hockey, volleyball and softball for Culver Academies.

Students sniffed lemon grass, a tropical perennial, and sampled peppery arugula while touring the SMC greenhouse for Ag Day with Stacey Rocklin, MSU Institute of Agricultural Technology program coordinator. Obscured in the raised bed by large broccoli plants are romaine lettuce, carrots, onions and kale.